Somebody’s Watching Me

Live and under-caffeinated from a mysterious compound buried deep in the Adirondacks, Jonah focuses today’s ...

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Live and under-caffeinated from a mysterious compound buried deep in the Adirondacks, Jonah focuses today’s Ruminant on nationalism, liberalism, and the American tradition. After providing an update on the state of The Dispatch and a few thoughts on integrity in politics, he launches into an epic rant on the recent National Conservatism Conference in Miami and the movement behind it. Throughout, he’s keen to stress a particular point: Our constitutional order still works.

Show Notes:

– Peter Thiel, losing Arizona

– Jonah: “Mugged by Fallacy”

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  1. Avatar photo
    Tom Self

    You said a lot of stuff… and I’m sure I nodded in agreement with all of it.

    But all I can remember is that I’m happy Pippa is going to be ok.

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  2. Mike

    Glad Pippa doesn't have cancer. Hope she gets through surgery for tumor removal well. Most important part of the podcast - dogs are more essential than politics/tribalism/the rest.

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    1. Martin Tatuch

      We had an English cocker who had a carcinoma when she was about three. Had it taken off. She kept having various skin bumps all the time, but none were bad, and she lives until she was fifteen. Hoping at least that for Pippa!

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    C C Writer

    Who's this guy Dom you keep talking about?

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  4. Tom and Robin Moore

    So glad Pippa is ok. Was it a lipoma? Our Aussie had a couple.

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    Faraday

    I have a suggestion to replace the bleep, at least when Jonah uses a colorful metaphor, a Zoe "Aroo!"

    Also, so glad Pippa is well. Love those girls!

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    Bill Dyer (aka Beldar)

    Nick is a (lapsed, I think; or perhaps redeemed?) lawyer and should therefore appear first on AO.

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    The Bell Tower

    Liberalism isn’t “values neutrality.” It’s the exact opposite in fact. It’s committing to institutions and rules of law that that apply equally to everyone.

    Here’s a good example: Roger Goodell agrees to arbitration in the case of Deshaun Watson. The outcome doesn’t give him the result he wants so he appeals it. To himself. That’s illiberal. Maybe the players’ union foolishly agreed to such an appeals system but it’s clearly a pathetic caricature of the liberal court system. A liberal approach would be to abide by the decision whether you like it or not or to have an appeals process where the plaintiff isn’t vested with the sole authority to appoint the ultimate arbiter.

    The problem The Remnant has is that the other side have also abandoned liberalism. Hammer is right about powerful corporate entities veering out of their lane. Every bull crap HR department in this country is jamming ESG and DEI down my throat, which is an utter corruption of free minds and free markets. I’ve worked all over corporate America and this junk is pervasive. That is political indoctrination by large, powerful and unaccountable private institutions.

    DeSantis was indeed wrong to use the power of the state to single out Disney for their political pronouncements but I can assure you that Disney is forcing those political opinions onto the employees who work for them and tolerating no dissent. You are certainly not welcome to disagree publicly. And that is true of many, perhaps most large corporations in this country.

    What liberal tools have we to combat this junk? We have no government capable of withstanding such vices, as Adams noted.

    The problem the NatCons have is as old as republican government itself. They are Boromir demanding that we just lend them the ring for a while. Like Sulla, they will purge the bad guys and set the republic to rights. Sure they will.

    I have no answer to any of this but I suspect we will soon be forced to choose a side whether we like it or not.

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    1. GregS

      "Liberalism (is) committing to institutions and rules of law that that apply equally to everyone.
      ...
      That is political indoctrination by large, powerful and unaccountable private institutions."

      The institutions and rules of law that our liberal democracy has committed to considers private institutions to be *people* with the attendant rights that we consider people to have - rights enshrined in (but not limited to) the Bill of Rights. Private institutions are not unaccountable. They are accountable to their shareholders. They are accountable to their customers. They are accountable to the same laws that private individuals are. If Desantis decides to abandon his commitment to the rules because Disney did something legal that he didn't like, you can't excuse this as "but he had to because Disney was powerful and unaccountable." Disney is working within the system we've all committed to, and Desantis is trying to work outside that system.

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        Faraday

        So if a large, unaccountable, private, organization puts in place rules and systems to push a set of political/social rules requiring conformance both in the professional and personal aspects of their employees lives. These rules and systems also place restrictions on the employee’s ability to speak openly about these rules but also obligates them to surreptitiously place messaging, themes, metaphors and parables, into materials that are purposefully distributed to younger less experienced members of society, in a manner to promote them within that segment of the population. This is all done in secret and outside the knowledge of the legal guardians and parents of said members of society. They also are required to deny, if asked, that any of this is taking place. This is working within the system and nothing can be done by the public parts of society.

        Do I have that right?

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        1. GregS

          Does any of what you have written violate any laws?
          If yes, then the corporation is in violation of a law and lots of things can be done.
          If no, then you have two options:
          1) change the law, and/or
          2) use your free speech rights to denounce, boycott, pressure investors and shareholders to change the direction of the company, and so on.
          Whats complicated about this?

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            Faraday

            It’s the people who have the knowledge of the activity that are gagged. It’s the suppression that’s the issue. You can’t make a change if you don’t know it’s happening. Once you do there’s little that can be done by individuals and acting collectively is against the law per your description.

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        The Bell Tower

        Let’s not conflate the words I wrote. I didn’t say that DeSantis had to do what he did. I said he did it and that he was wrong to do it.

        My question is, if Disney and other major corporations are forcing political beliefs into the workplace (they are) and if they are chilling dissent with those positions (they also are) then what weapons does liberalism possess to combat them? My argument is none. We don’t have any.

        I agree that corporations are acting within the law. That is my point. That doesn’t make it right. Goodell is also acting ostensibly within the law but he is also wrong. The Dr. Seuss decision to unpublish the work of the author who is the reason for that estate’s existence is also wrong but perfectly within the law.

        My argument is, we should be committing to liberalism. Corporations should protect free speech and shun political indoctrination. The NFL should commit to due process instead of banana republic tyranny. DeSantis should not be using the power of the state to punish businesses who take political positions he dislikes. Private artists should never be erasing art, especially from their own estate.

        I could go on with examples of illiberalism across this country - both public and private, legal and illegal, consequential and minor. If the people themselves aren’t going to uphold liberal traditions, then the laws cannot help them.

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        1. GregS

          Laws can be changed.

          Goodell is acting within the law - until the law is changed.

          Corporations could legally fire you for being pregnant, or gay, or discriminate against you for being Black, until the law was changed.

          Slavery was legal until it was not.

          We uphold liberal traditions by working within the system to change it. Everything within our system- even the meta-system of how the system is modified- can be changed if enough people want that.

          The system cannot stop artists from destroying their own work if they choose to do. I think it should not stop them - if you disagree then the path to fixing that is to *change the law*. Desantis was wrong for two reasons: (1) because I disagree with his position on whether Disney *deserved* punishment, and (2) because he went against our system where government is barred from retaliating against individuals for exercising their free speech rights. Only (2) is a disagreement based on the rule of law, while (1) is a policy disagreement.

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            The Bell Tower

            I don’t think the system should stop artists from destroying their work either. I think they shouldn’t do it. And that’s much the same with all of this. Certainly we can change laws but the laws aren’t the problem. The people are. That’s my point.

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      Faraday

      Ditto

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    Stevenkongju9

    So, is Jonah making an effort to NOT sound like Chris Stirewalt, or did I miss the explanation for the muffled voice. I am only three minutes in, so maybe the answer will come.

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  9. MKB

    Just joined… who is Daniel Jenkins and why does he come up on your pod intro?

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    David Cann

    Where’s these much-teased “big announcements”?

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